Ten More

I have ten more "Hard Tack and Coffee" blocks done!  Only 60 more to go!

I've been work on this as a leader and ender.

I am amazed at how much a quarter inch seam takes out of the piece.  Look at the difference!  The HST are one and a half inch square and finish 1 inch square.  This is one of the smallest things I've ever sewn.  And I've never really been into miniatures that much, but this has been fun.

Saturday Fun

My sister came over on Saturday and we had fun sewing together.  She cut out 5 pillowcases and got 3 of them sewn together.

A pretty floral

Where's Bart?

Raccoons!

 I worked hard to finish up 10 more blocks for "Hard Tack and Coffee".  They need squaring up, but came out the right size.  Woo Hoo!

It's always fun to sew with someone else.  And it inspires you so!  Now I need to dig through my stash and see if I can come up with some pillowcases.  Love the look that they add to the bed and the room.

P.S.  Did you notice how I happened not to mention that I didn't do any quilting on Nicki's quilt?  Guess what my goal is for this week.

Recipes

I know, what's up with that title?  I have to share a great idea my sister, Deb shared with me.   I love the magazine section of the paper as I always fine good recipes I want to try.  I save the little piece of paper with the recipe and when I decide it's time to make it, I can't find the paper.

Deb suggested I go to the web site and pin the recipe to my Pinterest board.  What. A. Great. Idea!  I love it.  So "Relish" magazine had a recipe for "Herbed Chicken Tray Bake"  Went to the site and pinned it to my Board.  No more bits of recipe papers hanging around  hiding  waiting for me.

Thanks Deb!

Moondance

I finished "Moondance" on Monday and here is a picture:

Can you see what I did wrong???  The fabric is a one way design and I put it on the pieces on the wrong sides.

Just to refresh your memory.

On Tuesday my husband and I did a day trip and I ripped out the stitching on the side pieces and redid them this morning.

It would have bothered me too much to just leave it.  I feel much better and I have enough of the stripe fabric to make binding and have a backing.  Woo Hoo!

Goals

On July 7th I set a goal of having "Everything But The Kitchen Sink" quilted and the binding on.  I did get that done but I didn't set a new goal last week.  So I need to set a new goal for this week.

This week I plan on quilting and getting the binding on Nicki's quilt.  I seem to get stuck and I really wanted to start a new project.  Which I did end up doing.

I bought a new pattern on our Shop Trip called "Moondance" by Villa Rosa Designs.  I had some fabric in my stash that has been drawing it to me for a couple of months now.  So I'm thinking I need to get something made up and donated to Quilts From The Bluffs.

The Pattern

The Fabric

It's going together very fast.  I need these fast projects to help me feel I am getting something done.

Road Trip!

This past Saturday quilt friends and I took a Road Trip to Hamilton, MO. to Missouri Star Quilt Company.  What a great day!  My Friend Rachel took these pictures.  I was so overwhelmed by fabric, I didn't even think about pictures.

The Main Store.

 There are different stores located in the town that house different kinds of fabrics.  There was a Seasonal Store,  a Solids and Blenders Store and a store full of Reproduction fabrics.  And they will soon be opening a Batik Store.

The Crew

We also found out that J. C. Penney's boyhood home is located here.  

(I did take this picture.)

If you ever get a chance to go to Hamilton, MO, do it!  You'll be glad you did.

As Promised

As promised, pictures of "Everything But The Kitchen Sink".  It's a free pattern from RJR Fabrics.  The only change I made was to frame my star blocks with more reproduction fabrics vs using the white called for in the pattern.

It was a little windy, but I did get a picture!

Close up of the quilting.  Jeanine of "Threads of Faith" longarm quilting services, quilted this for me. 

So glad to have this one done! 

Grandchildren

The grandchildren and their parents came to visit this past weekend and we had so much fun!

My grandson loves trains and Lauritzen Gardens was part of Railroad Day.  We saw model trains, real trains and small running trains that the children could ride.

My grandsons favorite train.

 We also had corn on the cob.  My granddaughter learned how to husk corn this weekend.  Very intent, but a big help.  It's one of her new favorite foods.

Best helper.

Even with family here, I finished "Everything But The Kitchen Sink" and I am planning on taking a picture today and will share more on that later.

Cutting And Sewing

I had a great time with Jean yesterday, cutting and sewing.  Also a little chit chatting.  I got my magazine autographed. :-)

Jean had a quilt she designed in "McCall's Quick Quilts" August/September 2014 issue.  It's her third time being published!  I'm so excited for her.  You can also find other patterns by her at Craftsy.

Jean did lots of sewing and I did lots of cutting.  I have all my half square triangles cut for "Hard Tack and Coffee"   Each bag has 40 HST and I have one package (on the left) of blocks that are ready to sew.  Today I want to finish getting the bags of blocks all cut and ready to sew.  Then I can just grab a bag of 10 blocks and start sewing!

Little Projects

I was checking for a fabric and I found this fabric.

Notice that the little hearts are off.  I think I bought this fabric to use for making a rug.  It's really a nice weight of fabric and cut up, it would have been fine in a rug.

But I ended up making a curtain for the basement.  My husband became a Master Gardener and was experimenting with starting his own seeds.  He needed a curtain to block out some of the light so I made this.  So another little project, done.

Goals

So I decided to have a quilting goal for this week.  My plan is to quilt and bind "Everything But The Kitchen Sink." I need to get a big project off the list.

I also plan on cutting out some of the green and orange strips I need to make 4-patch blocks for Celtic Solstice, strips for HST blocks for "Hard Tack And Coffee", and some 10 inch squares for playing with the HST technique shown in "Disappearing Hourglass" quilt.

I'll let you know at the end of the week if my goals were too lofty. I really do need to figure out my limits...

Done And Done

Step 2 and Step 3 are done and done!  

Going to be spending some time now cutting out blocks for "Hard Tack and Coffee" along with strips for making 4-patches for Celtic Solstice.

Closets

I've been trying to get some closets cleaned out this summer.  I get them part way done and than I seem to fill them up again.  I have been following a blog called "365 Less Things"  And taking one thing a day isn't moving it out as fast as I want.  So for the month of July I thought I would do 10 things a day.  And guess what?  One of the readers, Sanna, thought the same thing.  So I'm joining the challenge.  I'm keeping tick marks on my calendar to track.

Here are a few things removed from the closet and they are going off to find new homes:

This fabric is going back into the scrap bin as I only wore this outfit 2 or 3 times.

Had button covers of stars for the top white buttons.  Bet those are still around here someplace too!

I want to make a pillow out of this.  

Do You Ever Feel Like This?

Do you ever feel like this?  You are sewing along on your project and you really want to start something new?  I've been looking at this quilt on my calendar all of June.

Very simple, just half square triangles done with light and dark fabrics.  So I resisted all month.  Then Friday, Missouri Star Quilt Company comes out with this tutorial, The Disappearing Hourglass quilt, on video.  I'm watching it and she makes HST with 2 pieces of fabric from a 10 inch layer cake.  Oh. My. Goodness!  It all clicked.  I can make my HSTs using this method.  Now I know I have seen something like this before and I'm sure it's even pinned on my Pinterest boards.

But it felt so revolutionary to actually see this done.  The squares will be a little bigger, but that's OK, as I want to make a twin size charity quilt.  So now what?  Do I drop everything and start this?  Or keep working on my 2014 list?

So, does this ever happen to you?  And when it does, how do you handle it???


UPDATE:  And yes I do want to go buy the materials needed to make the Disappearing Hourglass quilt!!

Yay For Progress!

Yay for progress!  I have 19 Hardtack and Coffee blocks done! I have 200 chevron blocks and 20 pinwheels blocks for Celtic Solstice.

I now have to start cutting more half square triangles for Hardtack and Coffee blocks.  But I couldn't find my Easy Angle ruler!  Achhhhhh.  So a friend has let me borrow her ruler until mine shows up.  Thank You Jeanine!  

The weather has been beautiful and today was amazing.  Worked in the gardens this morning.  Picked lots of lettuce and basil.  Yum!  Also saw these two little guys resting in the shade of a bush this afternoon.  One is hidden by the other.   I love seeing the babies.